On Monday, October 27, Durango resident Fernando Jaramillo Solano and his two children were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement without probable cause and moved to a facility in Texas.
This prompted two days of protests from community members, which were violently quashed by ICE agents.
On Thursday, October 30, the Durango City Council held a special meeting. According to the City of Durango, the meeting served as a debrief, although concerned community members sought accountability from city officials.
Nearly 200 concerned community members filled the Durango City Hall chamber, spilling into the foyer. People gathered around portable speakers on the sidewalk outside the meeting, listening to the livestream.
Police Chief Brice Current began with a presentation explaining a timeline of events starting Monday morning, October 27, when Fernando Jaramillo Solano and his two children were detained without a warrant while on their way to school. (ICE subsequently said they were looking for someone else.)
The Police Chief began his presentation by saying that he wanted to “address the protest that later turned to a riot and the presence of federal agents in our city.”
Current stated that at 9:16 a.m., he spoke with 9R superintendent Karen Chester, who reported that ICE had detained two school kids. He said that by 9:45 a.m. Monday, he’d confirmed with the local ICE agent that the federal agents had detained Fernando Jaramillo Solano and his two children.
The Chief of Police described the protests that began on Monday and continued into Tuesday, when demonstrators formed a human chain in front of the north and south gates of the ICE facility.
“At approximately 11:45, ICE and their partners engaged with protesters,” said Current. Around 100 community members listened to his testimony as it was live-streamed outside City Hall. Community members reacted: “Engaged? Engaged? Who were their [ICE agents] partners?”
During the protest at the ICE facility, nearly 20 state troopers arrived at South Sheppard Drive in Bodo Industrial Park.
According to footage from protesters of the events on Monday, by 12:05 p.m., 20 armed federal agents in camouflage tactical gear approached the frontline of the protesters. By 12:08 p.m., the agents began tear-gassing people at close range and violently removing people from the human chain.
“They dragged a girl by her leg in the middle of the street and continued to assault her,” said Jo, a second-year student at Fort Lewis College. "I was blacking out for a lot of it. But the one thing I do remember was the sheer screams of terror. None of us wanted it to turn violent."
Other community members testified that they were struck by rubber bullets. Protesters tried calling 911.
Durango resident Natalia Anzola read a testimony on behalf of her friend.
“I watched 20 plus people in need of urgent medical care. Some bleeding from their head, some foaming from their mouths, and convulsing on the ground. Some are unable to breathe. And no emergency services ever arrived.”
The Durango Police Department cannot intervene with federal arrests, and by Colorado Law, they cannot aid in federal immigration arrests either. Still, Durango City Council member Shirley Gonzales, who also attended the protest, questioned the Chief of Police about his department's actions.
“I was really shocked by the level of violence that those officers used against our unarmed peaceful protesters. Why did you not feel like it would escalate to the level that it did?”
The City attorney, Mark Morgan, interrupted.
“I am going to caution that you don’t ask that question. The issue is, there will be litigation about this down the road, so for him to speculate, this isn’t the right forum.”
This sparked a response from the crowd outside. People demanded that Current answer the council member’s question. Enrique Orozco Perez, the executive director of Compañeros: Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center, says the Durango Police Department was complicit in Tuesday’s events.
“What we saw was DPD uphold state-sanctioned violence. We heard our community speak up time after time and say DPD failed,” he said.
After the city council meeting, nearly 100 community members gathered in the street and condemned the Durango Police Department, explaining that they felt abandoned during the protest.
Orozco-Perez says the community support is giving the family courage.
“We’ve talked to the father, and after 36 hours, he was ready to give up. He was ready to give up and sign deportation papers. Then, when they were ready to transport him, and he saw us out there, he said, ‘I’ll fight this,’ because he saw the support and the love from this community, and he was at the brink of saying, ‘I can’t do this. I can’t put my kids through this.’ And then he saw us fighting and he said, ‘We’re going to fight too.’”
Currently, Jaramillo-Solano and his children are together in an ICE unit in Dilley, Texas. There is bipartisan support from Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, both Democrats, and Republican Rep. Jeff Hurd. Their offices are working to get the family brought back to Durango.
Related story: KSUT Conversation: Enrique Orozco of Compañeros on Durango family's detention and ICE protests
